Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Midwestern & Western U.S. A noisy mock serenade for newlyweds. Also called regionally charivari, belling, horning, serenade.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A corruption of charivari.
- To salute with a mock serenade.
Wiktionary
- n. The noisy banging of pots and pans as a mock serenade to a newly married couple, or similar occasion.
- n. Any loud cacophonous noise or hubbub.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a noisy mock serenade (made by banging pans and kettles) to a newly married couple
Etymologies
- Alteration of charivari.
Examples
“The word shivaree is especially common along and west of the Mississippi River.”
“Right, but I did once read that Sugaree per Lizabeth Cotton (Cotten?) was dervied ultimately from shivaree which is I believe an south asian or middle eastern word?”
“It became a custom, in anticipation of a "shivaree," to send round word to Mrs. Ferris not to be afraid, the shooting was all in fun.”
“Well, anyway, when Bill and the girl got married, the boys came to 'shivaree' them.”
“I came to tell you that there's a scheme to raise -- to 'shivaree' you two, tonight.”
“So in blind desperation I started such a rattling 'shivaree' down below as never had astounded an engineer in this world before, I fancy.”
“Princess, "a sort of sublimated" shivaree "in which oboes quawk, muted trumpets bray, pizzicato strings flutter, and mandolins (loved of”
“The party ends, and we go back to the farm, but not to bed, for we children are going to do a shivaree on Mr. Clayton and Miss McEwing.”
“Do you think somebody is already giving them a shivaree?”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘shivaree’.
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The weird, the wonderful and the plain hilarious
Loved for their ingenuity, an exact description, or simply for the pure joy of it.
acidulous, aprosdoketon, higgledy-piggledy, lexicographical, ninja, audacious, somnabulist, shivaree, amorphous, quidnunc, glib, melancholy and 353 more...
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Big words I stumbled across
panglossian, Panglossian, thrall, shivaree, begs the question, neologism, wilding, opsimath, sibilant, gloaming, trilling, diurnal
chained_bear "Another time, he might have been interested to see a shivaree, and trace all the roots of it from French and Highland customs—but not bloody now."
—Diana Gabaldon, The Fiery Cross (NY: Bantam Dell, 2001), 701 Jan 25, 2010
avivamagnolia A "noisy mock serenade for newlyweds," probably deriving in turn from a Late Latin word meaning "headache."
Also called regionally charivari, belling, horning, serenade.
From the French "charivari," most likely borrowed from French traders and settlers along the Mississippi River
An 1805 account describes a shivaree in New Orleans:
"The house is mobbed by thousands of the people of the town, vociferating and shouting with loud acclaim.... Many are in disguises and masks; and all have some kind of discordant and noisy music, such as old kettles, and shovels, and tongs.... All civil authority and rule seems laid aside" (John F. Watson).
The word shivaree is especially common along and west of the Mississippi River.
Regional equivalents:
~belling: Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan
~horning: upstate New York, northern Pennsylvania, western New England Jan 17, 2009
mollusque Do shivarees give you the goosebumps? Sep 23, 2008